Methods and systems for presence-based telephony communications

ABSTRACT

A system and method can enable a user of a communications network, such as a Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), wireless and/or voice over IP network to participate in Presence Availability Management (PAM) and Instant Messaging (IM) activities of a PAM/IM network. In response to phone network triggers, a phone network Service Control Point (SCP) can generate requests to a web server. The web server can translate the requests to presence information that can be forwarded to presence user agents for participants of the PAM/IM network. The presence user agents can present the user&#39;s presence information to participants having the user on their “buddy list”. In turn, the presence user agent for the user can forward the presence information for participants on the user&#39;s “buddy list” to a media server that can communicate the information to the user through Automatic Speech Recognition, Text to Speech and/or Dual Tone MultiFrequency technology.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.11/961,054, filed Dec. 20, 2007, which is a continuation of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 10/627,368, filed Jul. 25, 2003 (now U.S. Pat. No.7,317,716), which are incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD

The systems and methods relate to communications networks, and moreparticularly to a system and method for adjusting a user's presencestatus based on the status of a telephone line.

BACKGROUND

Presence and Availability Management (PAM) tools are available in theart to provide and expose presence information to users of PC-basedinterfaces. As is known in the art, such tools are common in InstantMessaging (IM) systems and may be applied to a variety of devices andcontexts, including email systems, Personal Digital Assistants (PDA's),text-based or graphical/visual displays offered in cellular phones andSession Initiation Protocol (SIP) or other Voice Over Internet (VoIP)Phones.

The above applications generally include a text display to indicatepresence and status information for members of a “buddy list” selectedby the user. Typically, PAM users monitor the presence of otherindividuals, usually called “buddies”. The collection of buddies isusually called a buddy list. To date, audio only devices, such astraditional Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) telephones, havenot provided presence information directly to users. While one'spresence may be inferred from some telephones that can visually show thestate of one or more telephone lines, typically, a PSTN user does notreceive presence information until an attempt is made to place a call.The caller may then hear ringing, a busy signal, or a messageintercepting the call; each alternative provides some evidence as to thecalled party's availability. As attested to by the popularity of IMservices, it is desirable to provide presence and availabilityinformation to a PSTN user for members of a buddy list.

SUMMARY

A method can enable a user of a communications network, such as a PublicSwitched Telephone Network (PSTN) to participate in PresenceAvailability Management (PAM) and Instant Messaging (IM) activities. Themethod can provide the user with presence-based status information formembers of a buddy list of the user. The method can comprise generatinga signal signifying a status of a communications network device of theuser, transferring the signal to a web server, translating the signal topresence-based information for the device, propagating thepresence-based information to presence user agents associated withparticipants of the presence-based network, obtaining, at one of thepresence user agents associated with the user, presence-basedinformation for selected participants of the presence-based network,forwarding the presence-based information for the selected participantsto a media server of the communications network and communicating thepresence-based information for the selected participants to the user ina communications network compatible format.

To communicate the presence-based information for the selectedparticipants, the method can include initiating a call from the mediaserver to the user, when the presence-based information for one of theselected participants indicates a status change in the selectedparticipant's device, and presenting, in the communications networkcompatible format, the presence-based information for the selectedparticipant to the user when the user accepts the call. In oneembodiment, communicating the presence-based information for theselected participants can include presenting, in the communicationsnetwork compatible format, a listing of the selected participants andthe corresponding presence-based information for the selectedparticipants, when the user selects an option to receive thepresence-based information. A text-to-speech translation can be appliedto communicate the presence-based information to the user.

The method can include transmitting messages between the user and theselected participants. Messages from the selected participants to theuser can be forwarded to the media server and translated to acommunications network compatible format. A call can be initiated to theuser and the communications network compatible message can be presentedto the user, when the user accepts the call. The communications networkcompatible messages can be queued for later communication when the userdoes not accept the call.

When the user selects an option to receive queued messages, a listing ofthe selected participants can be presented to the user, which caninclude a queued message indication for the selected participants havingmessages not delivered to the user. The user can choose to receivemessages from the listing. In one embodiment, the queued messages can bepresented sequentially to the user.

For transmitting messages from the user to the selected participants,the method can include communicating a communications network compatiblemessage from the user to the media server, translating thecommunications network compatible message to a web-based requestreferencing the communications network compatible message, creating apresence-based network message from the web-based request and sendingthe presence-based network message to presence user agents associatedwith the selected participants. The communications network compatiblemessage can be an audio message and the presence-based network messagecan identify a web site for playing the audio message.

The user can provide a login sequence to connect the user to thepresence-based network and a signal can be generated that can signify anon-line status for the user's device. A signal signifying a busy statusfor the user's device can be generated when the user initiates an actionchosen from a menu including getting status, receiving messages, sendingmessages, making a call on the communications network and receiving acall on the communications network. A signal signifying an off-linestatus can be generated when the user performs a logout. A signalsignifying one of an away status or an off-line status, as chosen by theuser, can be generated when a predetermined amount of time elapses afterthe user performs a hang-up action.

Generating a signal to the web server can include sending a trigger froma service switching point of the communications network to a servicecontrol point of the communications network, the trigger based on a useraction with respect to the user's device, and generating a hypertexttransfer protocol request and/or a transmission capabilities applicationpart message. The trigger can result in creation of the presence-basedstatus information message. Forwarding the presence-based information tothe presence user agents can include forwarding the presence-basedinformation to the presence user agent associated with the user,modifying a presence status of the presence user agent associated withthe user, communicating the modified presence status to a presenceserver and propagating the modified status from the presence server tothe presence user agents associated with participants of thepresence-based network.

A system for enabling a user of a communications network to participatein Presence Availability Management (PAM) and Instant Messaging (IM)activities can include a service control point that can receive statustriggers for participant devices connected to the communicationsnetwork, a web server receiving status signals from the service controlpoint and translating the status signals to presence-based informationfor respective participant devices connected to the communicationsnetwork and presence user agents associated with participant in thepresence-based network. Each presence user agent can receive thepresence-based information for a respective participant device and canmodify its presence status to correspond with the receivedpresence-based information. The system can also include a presenceserver that can receive notifications of modified presence statuses forthe respective participant devices and can propagate the notificationsto presence user agents of buddy list participants for the respectiveparticipant devices so as to communicate the notifications to the buddylists participants. The system can further include a media server toreceive the notifications for buddy list participants having participantdevices connected to the communications network and to communicate thenotifications through the participant devices connected to thecommunications network.

The media server can include a speech recognition module, a text tospeech module that can facilitate communication of instant messagesbetween the buddy list participants and a media server user agent thatcan facilitate communications between the presence server and the mediaserver. The system can include a persisted message database for storinginstant messages when communication of the instant messages is notcompleted.

The system can include a notification engine that can receivenotifications and alerts from sources outside the presence-based networkand can propagate the notifications and alerts through thepresence-based network via communication with the web server. Analerting service user agent can facilitate communication between thenotification engine and the presence user agents. The system can includeone or more databases containing participant information and can includean application server to facilitate communication between the web serverand the databases. The application server can include a triggerprocessor to facilitate communication between the service control pointand the web server when the status signal is a transmission controlprotocol/internet protocol transmission capabilities application partmessage.

In one embodiment, a computer program, disposed on a computer readablemedium, can enable a user of a communications network to participate ina presence-based network. The computer program can include instructionsfor causing a processor to generate a signal signifying a status of acommunications network device of the user, transfer the signal to a webserver, translate the signal to presence-based information for thedevice, forward the presence-based information to presence user agentsassociated with participants of the presence-based network, obtain, atone of the presence user agents associated with the user, presence-basedinformation for selected participants of the presence-based network,forward the presence-based information for the selected participants toa media server of the communications network, and communicate thepresence-based information for the selected participants to the user ina communications network compatible format.

The computer program can include instructions for causing a processor topresent, in the communications network compatible format, a listing ofthe selected participants and the corresponding presence-basedinformation for the selected participants when the user selects anoption to receive the presence-based information. The instructions forcausing a processor to communicate the presence-based information forthe selected participants can include instructions for causing aprocessor to initiate a call from the media server to the user and awaitanswering the call by the user to present the listing.

The computer program can include instructions for causing a processor totransmit messages from one of the selected participants to the user byforwarding the message to the media server, translating the message to acommunications network compatible message, initiating a call to theuser, presenting the communications network compatible message to theuser when the user accepts the call, and queuing the communicationsnetwork compatible message when the user does not accept the call. Theinstruction for causing a processor to communicate the presence-basedinformation for the selected participants can include instructions forcausing a processor to present a listing of the selected participants tothe user when the user selects an option to receive queued messages, thelisting including a queued message indication for the selectedparticipants having messages not delivered to the user, and presentselected queued messages to the user. The computer program can presentthe queued messages sequentially to the user when the user selects anoption to receive queued messages.

The computer program can communicate a communications network compatiblemessage from the user to the media server, translate the communicationsnetwork compatible message to a web-based request referencing thecommunications network compatible message, create a presence-basednetwork message from the web-based request, and send the presence-basednetwork message to presence user agents associated with the selectedparticipants. The computer program can include instructions for causinga processor to identify a web site for playing the communicationsnetwork compatible message when the communications network compatiblemessage is an audio message, and instructions to apply a text-to-speechtranslation to the presence-based information.

The computer program can include instructions for causing a processor topresent to the user a menu of actions including getting status,receiving messages, sending messages, making a call on thecommunications network and receiving a call on the communicationsnetwork, generate a signal signifying a busy status for the user'sdevice when the user initiates at least one action chosen from the menu,generate a signal signifying an off-line status for the user's devicewhen the user performs a logout from the computer program, and generate,when a predetermined amount of time elapses after the user performs ahang-up, a signal signifying a status for the user's device chosen bythe user from a listing including an away status and an off-line status.

The instructions to generate a signal can include instructions forcausing a processor to send a trigger from a service switching point ofthe communications network to a service control point of thecommunications network, the trigger based on a user action with respectto the user's device, and generate a hypertext transfer protocol requestand/or a transmission capabilities application part message. Theinstructions for controlling a computer to propagate the presence-basedinformation to the presence user agents can include instructions forcontrolling a computer to propagate the presence-based information tothe presence user agent associated with the user, modify a presencestatus of the presence user agent associated with the user, communicatethe modified presence status to a presence server, and propagate themodified status from the presence server to the presence user agentsassociated with participants of the presence-based network.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The following figures depict certain illustrative embodiments in whichlike reference numerals refer to like elements. These depictedembodiments are to be understood as illustrative and not as limiting inany way.

FIG. 1 shows a system for presence-based telephony in a PSTN;

FIGS. 2A and 2B illustrate a method of implementing presence-basedtelephony in a PSTN; and

FIG. 3 illustrates a method of propagating a status change notificationthrough the system of FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring to FIG. 1, there is illustrated a schematic representation ofa system 10 that can provide for presence-based telephony in a PSTN 12.The system 10 can provide a PSTN user 14 with the functionality of PAMand IM systems, including services for sending and receiving instantvoice or text messages, making and receiving telephone calls andreceiving voice alerts and notifications. These services can be executedin the context of a user's presence status and the presence statuspresented by each member of the user's buddy list. A user's presencestatus changes in response to notifications delivered to the system viasignals in PSTN 12, as illustrated by dashed lines 16, includingAdvanced Intelligent Network (AIN) triggers.

The triggers 16 can modify presence status in real-time, according tothe status of the telephone lines 18 between phones 20, or other voicedevices, and Service Switching Points (SSP's) 22 of PSTN 12, throughwhich a user 14 may interface with PSTN 12. PSTN 12 can be interfacedwith one or more presence User Agents (UA's) 24, as will be describedfurther. The presence UA's 24 can receive and process PSTN triggernotifications, instant messages and other alerts and notifications usingknown protocols, including Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) and IM orSIP, IM and Presence Leveraging Extension (SIMPLE), implemented onpresence server 26. A presence UA 24 can modify and/or update itspresence status as a result of the alerts, notifications and messages itreceives.

It is noted, however, that presence server 26 and system 10 do notdepend on SIMPLE or other specific VoIP or IM protocols. Such protocolsare presented for exemplary purposes in describing the system 10 andcomponents thereof. Presence server 26 can be a network-based set ofmodules enabling real-time communication sessions between users, as maybe known in the art. These communication sessions can support a varietyof communication services, including instant messaging, voicecommunications, video communications and/or application sharing. Inaddition, it can be understood that PSTN 12 provides an exemplaryembodiment for the methods and systems described herein and that othercommunications networks, such as wireless networks, and VoIP networkscan be adapted to fully participate in the instant voice and textmessaging, alerts and notifications, and status update servicesdescribed herein and that other devices, such as mobile phones, PDA'sand the like for use with such systems can be so adapted.

Referring back to the exemplary embodiment of FIG. 1, media server 28can manage the interaction between system 10 and user 14 and can providethe capability to play prompts and recognize responses, e.g., Dual ToneMultiFrequency (DTMF) tones and/or spoken commands. Media server 28 mayinclude known components, e.g., a Voice eXtensible Markup Language(VXML) interpreter 28 a, Text To Speech (TTS) module 28 b and AutomaticSpeech Recognition (ASR) module 28 c, which can provide the desiredinteraction management, prompting and recognition capabilities. Mediaserver 28 can interact with web server 30 and application server 32 topass configuration, registration and other types of requests, e.g.,sending instant messages and/or initiating telephone calls. Media server28 can also record audio messages that can be sent as instant voicemessages.

Web server 30 can serve as an intermediary for other components ofsystem 10. For example, it can pass requests between the media server 28and application server 32, notification engine 34 and/or presence UA's24. As may be known in the art, web server 30 can receive ITP-basednotifications or requests, either directly or indirectly, from a ServiceControl Point (SCP) 36 of PSTN 12, as indicated, for example, by dashedarrow 38 in FIG. 1. The notifications can result from AIN triggers 16delivered to SCP 36 by SSP 22 of PSTN 12. Web server 30 can translateincoming HTTP requests 38 from different entities, such as Voice XMLscript from media server 28 and/or notification engine 34 software, toSIP and IM (or SIMPLE) messages, passing them to the web presence UAcomponent 30 a of web server 30. Web presence UA 30 a can communicatewith and can control presence UA's 24 and alerting service UA 40.

Application server 32 can process requests from the web server 30 andcan also send web server 30 new requests. Application server 32 cancommunicate with media server 28 and/or presence server 26. In addition,application server 32 can communicate with user database 42 forprovisioning and configuration purposes and can include PSTN triggernotification processor 32 a. As may be known in the art, PSTN triggernotification processor 32 a can receive notifications from the SCP 36for Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)Transmission Capabilities Application Part (TCAP) messages, as indicatedby dashed arrow 44. Notification engine 34 can receive notifications andalerts from different sources and propagate the notifications and alertsthrough the system via communication with web server 30. Notificationengine 34 can be a Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP)-based module, asmay be known in the art, which can deliver notifications and alerts to auser presence device, i.e., the device used by the user for which userpresence information can be obtained.

System 10 can persist, e.g., store, data in a data store, which mayinclude such storage devices as a relational database, LightweightDirectory Access Protocol (LDAP) directory and/or other file system. Thepersisted or stored data can include user or subscriber provisioning andconfiguration data, e.g., user preferences and/or user profiles in userdatabase 42; user registration data, e.g., user SIP or SIMPLEregistration and contact information in registration database 46; andvoice messages, e.g., persisted instant voice messages in data store 48.

The UA's, e.g., the presence UA's 24, the alerting service UA 40 and theweb presence UA 30 a, can act as proxies for a user and can representintermediate points for communications. For the exemplary system of FIG.1, SIP UA 28 d can serve as an intermediary between presence server 26and media server 28. The UA's can include applications that can initiatea request, such as a SIP request, on behalf of the user, that cancontact the user when a request, such as a SEP request, is received andthat can return a response on behalf of the user. The response caninclude accepting, rejecting, and/or redirecting the request. PresenceUA 24 can represent user 14 and can act on behalf of user 14 when user14 has logged into system 10, e.g., via telephone 20. It can beunderstood that the representation of user 14 by presence UA 24 need notbe limited to telephone 20, but may include devices or applicationsthrough which a user may communicate with system 10, e.g., an internetbrowser.

Presence UA 24 can receive and interpret IM messages in XML format fromweb presence UA 30 a. The XML data can specify the sender and recipientinformation. The presence UA 24 for the sender can create a new IMmessage in text format and can send it to a recipient. The text can betaken from the content element of the received XML-based IM message. Ifthe recipient is, for example, a PC-based user, then the recipient canreceive an IM message containing the Uniform Resource Locator (URL) forplaying the audio content recorded by the sender. When UA 24 for user 14(or for other users having a voice device) receives an IM messagecontaining the URL to an audio file recorded by the sender, UA 24 caninvoke media platform 28 to make an outbound phone call to user 14.During the call, the URL to the audio file recorded by the sender can beresolved by media platform 28 and an instant voice message can be playedto the user 14 (or other recipient having a voice device). When an IMmessage is received in text format, UA 24 can invoke media platform 28to make an outbound phone call during which the message content is readto the recipient by TTS 28 b.

Web presence UA 30 a can act as a gateway between Internet/Intranetrequests, e.g. HTTP or Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) requests,and the system 10 infrastructure, e.g. the SIP and IM (or SIMPLE)infrastructure. The alerting service UA 40 can act as an intermediarybetween the notification engine 34 and the user 14. The alerting serviceUA 40 can deliver a diverse set of public and/or private alerts andnotifications regardless of type of device used. The manner of operationof alerting service UA 40 on alerts and notifications can be similar tothe operation of UA 24 on IM messages, as described previously.

In addition to the previously described components, system 10 mayinclude components known in the art to comprise telephony networks withAIN capabilities, such as PSTN 12. Such components can include telephoneswitches, e.g., SSP 22, Line Information Database (LIDB) 50, controlpoints and transfer points, e.g., SCP 36 and Signaling Transfer Point(STP) 52. While processing a call, SSP 22 may obtain AIN informationfrom LIDB 50 via STP 52. SSP 22 may generate a trigger 16 that caninitiate a TCAP query to SCP 36. The service logic of SCP 36 can processthe query and may send an HTTP request and/or another TCAP query intothe IP domain via IP/PSTN Gateways 54. The requests and/or queries canbe received by web server 30 and/or the PSTN trigger notificationprocessor 32 a.

Referring now to FIGS. 2A and 2B, there is shown a flow chart of amethod 100 that illustrates the operation of system 10. The operation isdescribed from the perspective of PSTN user 14. However, it can beunderstood by those of skill in the art that the descriptions herein canapply to other users of system 10, including cellular phone users, VoIPusers, PDA users and/or other communications network device users.

A user can first connect (102) to media server 28. For user 14,connection to media server 28 is made, via phone 20, SSP 22, STP 52 andgateway 54, by dialing the access telephone number for system 10.Existing users may then be prompted to login at 104. If user 14 is afirst time user, as determined at 106, or if user 14 wishes to changeprevious configurations after logging in, as determined at 108, mediaserver 28 can prompt user 14 to input user data (110), from which system10 can create and save a user profile and a user account (112). The userdata may include an assigned or selected sign-in name, an email address,a SIP Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) address, a password, a pin, userselected preferences, user selected system settings and/or other datathat system 10 can save and/or store to identify user 14. It can benoted that the sign-in name, password, pin and/or other user data can beused for user login at 104.

The input data may also include a nickname that can identify the user 14to other system users, as may be known for creating buddy lists. User 14can also provide a listing of other users that can serve as the buddylist of user 14. The system 10 can save the user's identity, profile,service settings and other user input data in the data store, e.g., inuser database 42. Once existing user 14 has logged in at 104, or newuser 14 has input the appropriate data at 110, the login and/or userdata can be validated at 114 such that the user 14 can gain access tothe system 10. The user data can be validated against the data in theuser database 42 and/or the registration database 46.

Different forms of presence availability or presence status are known inthe art, including off-line, on-line, busy (or on-the-phone) and away.For simplicity and illustrative purposes, the following description willbe based on the foregoing. However, it can be understood that the methodand system herein described may not be limited to this simple set ofpresence statuses. Once validated, user 14 presence status may bedetermined and updated automatically, as indicated at 116, usingsignaling by PSTN 12. This action (116) can result in presence server 26updating or propagating the presence status of the user 14 on the buddylists of other users that include user 14 on their lists. An existinguser 14 may adjust user presence status manually. When user 14 choosesto change configuration data at 110, the data can include setting thepresence status for the user. However, unless specifically changedduring user input at 110, the updated presence status for the user 14can be the presence status as determined automatically at 116.

When not logged-in, user 14 presence status can be set to off-line.After login and validation, user 14 presence status can typically be setto on-line. System 10 can monitor activity of user 14 through presenceUA 24 for user 14 and can propogate presence status changes for user 14to other users who may have user 14 on their buddy lists. Apredetermined period of inactivity can result in changing the on-linepresence status to away. If user 14 picks up phone 20, the away presencestatus can return to on-line, e.g., by way of an AIN off-hook immediatetrigger 16, as may be known in the art.

Generally, when user 14 initiates a telephone call, SSP 22 can generatean AIN O_Connect trigger 16, or other similar trigger, to signify atelephone line status change. The status change notification can bepropagated through the system 10, as shown in FIG. 1, with the presencestatus of user 14 changed to busy. Similarly, when the telephone callends, an AIN O_Disconnect trigger 16, or other similar trigger, can begenerated and propagated, resulting in a presence status change of user14 from busy to on-line. It can be seen that AIN trigger 16 need not belimited to the triggers described above, but can include other triggersthat can signify status changes. FIG. 3 shows an illustrative flow chartfor a method of propagating the status change notification throughsystem 10.

Referring now to FIG. 3, method 200 can be initiated when an action byuser 14 (202) results in the generation of an AIN trigger 16, as at 204and as described above. Actions 202 can include picking up and/orreplacing the receiver of phone, or device, 20, initiating a phone call,ending a phone call, receiving a phone call, and/or performing an actionassociated with the operation of system 10, as may be described formethod 100, herein. AIN trigger 16 is sent to SCP 36 (206), which cangenerate an HTTP request 38 to web server 30 (208). Web server 30 cantranslate, or map, the HTTP request (210) to the appropriate presencestatus and pass the translated request to the presence UA 24 for theuser 14 via the web presence UA 30 a of web server 30 (212). UA 24 canmodify its presence status (214) accordingly. Depending on the featureset of SCP 36, the SCP 36 may generate a TCP/IP TCAP message 44 toapplication server UA 32 a, which can send the appropriate request toweb server 30 (not shown).

Presence UA 24 for user 14 can communicate the status change to presenceserver 26 (216), which can propogate (218) the presence status change ofuser 14 to other presence UA's for users who have user 14 on their buddylist. For users having traditional IM services, as determined bypresence server 26 at 220, presence server 26 can update (222) thepresence status for user 14 at the user's device, e.g., PC 58, as isknown in the art. For other users of system 10, such as user 14 a,presence server 26 can provide (224) the updated presence status foruser 14 to media server 28 for presentation (226) to user 14 a. In oneembodiment, as described further in relation to FIGS. 2A and 2B, mediaserver 28 can deliver an instant voice message alert about the statuschange to user 14 a.

For the illustrative embodiment of FIGS. 2A and 2B, user 14 presencestatus of busy can indicate telephone activity. With regards todescriptions of actions related to buddy lists, the presence status fora member of the buddy list can be taken as on-line, unless statedotherwise. It can be understood that telephone activity may berepresented by other presence status indications. For example, user 14presence status may be set to busy during telephone conversations, butuser 14 presence status can remain on-line during telephone activity forengaging with instant voice message delivery or during the provisioningand configuration activity with media server 28. While AIN triggers 16from these activities can result in presence status update requests(indicated by dashed line 56 in FIG. 1), these update requests can beignored by presence UA 24 when the activity is related to system 10 andnot to a phone conversation. Thus, the user 14 presence status canremain unchanged, i.e., can remain on-line, during such activity.

When presence status is maintained as on-line during system 10 relatedactivities, delivery of incoming telephone calls and/or instant messagesduring the activity may be necessary as the calling or messaging partyhas been given an indication that the called party (the user 14) isavailable (on-line). Delivery of multiple instant voice messages withinone telephone call can be assured by the use of a queuing mechanism forinstant voice message delivery in presence UA 24 and by dynamicnotification of the arrival of new instant messages while in the call,for example, through notification engine 34. It can be understood bythose of skill in the art that a call waiting function can be operablesuch that the user 14 can receive notification of incoming calls.

Other presence status indications and/or changes can also becontemplated. For example, a call screening service, as may be known inthe art as Selective Inbound Call Filtering, can selectively apply auser 14 presence status of off-line to the buddy lists of others, eventhough this user may actually be on-line. In another example, a call canbe automatically scheduled depending on presence status. A user canrequest that system 10 set up a telephone call to a designated off-lineuser when the designated user's presence status changes to an on-lineindication. The connection can be expanded to implement ad-hocconferences when multiple designated users come on-line.

Referring more particularly to FIGS. 2A and 2B, once the user 14 isadmitted to system 10, a selectable menu of actions can be presented tothe user at 118. The menu can include selections to log out (off-line),hang up and remain on-line, get presence status of buddy list members,send/receive messages and make telephone calls. If the user 14 choosesto logout (120), presence status for user 14 will be updated to off-line(122). The user 14 can signal a logout action using DTMF or speechcommands. Media server 28 can send a LOGOUT message to the web presenceUA 30 a via web server 30. Web presence UA 30 a can send an IM messageabout the logout action to presence UA 24 of user 14. Presence UA 24 canthen deregister with presence server 26 and exit. The presence server 26can propagate the off-line presence status of the user to other users.The user 14 can subsequently re-connect to the system 10 by returning to102.

If the user 14 wishes to hang up yet remain connected to system 10, theuser may choose to hang up (124). The presence status for user 14 canremain on-line for a predetermined time. After this time, as determinedat 126, the presence status can be updated to away (128). In oneembodiment, the user 14 can select an additional predetermined amount oftime after which the presence status can be updated to off-line, asindicated at 126 a and 128 a. If the respective predetermined times donot elapse, the presence status can remain on-line or away,respectively, until some action by user 14 or some operation of system10, such as an incoming call or message, can update the presence status.

It can be understood that the user 14 need not “choose” the item 124from the menu 118. The act of hanging up the phone 20 when connected tothe system 10 can trigger the hang up operation 124. For example, a user14 connected to system 10 may hang up the phone 20 when a call iscompleted, or when validation (114) and updating of presence (116) arecompleted. It can also be understood that the predetermined times can beset such that the user 14 presence status can remain on-line or away forextended periods of time, e.g., the predetermined time before the statusis updated to away or to off-line can be set to a long period of timesuch that, for practical purposes, the predetermined time will notelapse. The predetermined time can be set by user 14 duringconfiguration (110), with a default value specified by the system 10, orthe predetermined time can be set by system 10.

In one embodiment, after choosing menu item 124, the user 14 can bereturned to 116 upon subsequently picking up the phone, as may beindicated at 116 a. In this embodiment of method 100, the user can avoida new login sequence. However, when increased security is desired, ascan be determined at 116 b, the user 14 can be returned to 104 to logback into system 10. Returning to the login sequence (104) can helpprevent unauthorized use of phone 20.

If user 14 chooses to get the status (130) for buddy list members,system 10, through media server 28, can present user 14 with a listingof members and the status of each member, as indicated at 132. Presenceserver 26 can establish communications between buddies and canpropagate/update their status. The protocol used by presence server 26(e.g., the SIMPLE protocol) can be such that the UA's, includingpresence UA's 24, alerting service UA 40, and web presence UA 30 a, cancontinuously propagate their presence status to the members of theirbuddy lists. Such notification requests can be communicated from the“propagator”, via presence server 26, to members of the buddy lists ofthe “propagator”. Thus, the UA's for a user can maintain the list andstatus of the user's buddies. Incoming notification requests from thesebuddies will update their status on the list.

The form and presentation of the listing can depend on the userequipment and/or the format chosen by the user 14. When the userequipment 20 supports text messaging, the user 14 may choose, at 134, tohave a text listing, e.g., a member directory, displayed. The user mayscroll through the listing, or search for a particular member, in themanner of known telephone directories. The user may choose, also at 134,to receive a vocal listing of buddy list member status. Using TTS 28 b,ASR 28 c and/or DTMF, media server 28 can provide the functionality of atext based phone directory to a user 14 with limited or with no textcapabilities.

It can be understood that the user 14 may set the form of presentationof the buddy list as part of the configuration (110) of system 10.Alternatively, system 10 can determine the form of presentation based onthe equipment and service profile of the user 14, as may be availablefrom PSTN 12 and/or user database 42. Thus, at 134, the method 100 maydefault to the predetermined setting and the user 14 may be given theoption of changing to an alternate form of presentation, if supported bythe user 14 equipment. The rendering of the buddy list can inform theuser 14 about the presence status of members of the list and can allowfor the selection of a buddy with whom the user wishes to communicate.

Other users can include user 14 in their buddy list and can send instantmessages (voice or text) to user 14. For the exemplary embodimentillustrated in FIGS. 1, 2A and 2B, wherein the user 14 equipment isdepicted as phone 20, these messages can arrive at user 14 as atelephone call. If supported by user 14 equipment, instant messages canhave a distinctive ring tone that the user 14 can recognize as anincoming instant message. User 14 may be unable or unwilling to acceptthe message, e.g., user 14 may be on the phone. System 10 can persistinstant messages in data store 48 until delivery occurs. Alternatively,or in addition, if the user 14 is unable to accept an incoming message,the message can be delivered to voice mail, or a call waitingnotification can be given to the user 14. In one embodiment, persistedinstant messages can be delivered as a phone call to user 14, once user14 completes the current call.

The user 14 may choose to receive such undelivered instant messages at136. If there are no messages, as determined at 136 a, when user 14chooses 136 from menu 118, method 100 can provide a textual and/or vocalno message indication (136 b) to user 14 at 132, in lieu of the buddylist and the user 14 can be returned to menu 118, as indicated at “B”.When there are messages, the buddy list can be presented to user 14 inthe manner as described previously with relation to getting status 130.The status listing presented at 132 can include message waitingindications associated with the buddy list members. In one embodiment,when user 14 chooses to receive messages at 136, the buddy listingpresented can be restricted to those members that have a message waitingindication. Alternatively, the method 100 can present the instantmessages to the user in the manner of known voice mail systems, e.g.,the system 100 can present the messages to user 14 sequentially.

Using speech recognition and/or DTMF, the user 14 can then select amember with a message waiting indication from the presented listing, at138, and user 14 can then receive the associated message at 140. Thelisting presented to user 14 can include a return to menu item that user14 can choose to return to menu 118, as may be indicated at 142. It canbe understood that the method 100 can track the menu choices made, suchthat intermediate decision or branch points can be transparent to theuser 14. For example, other menu 118 choices to be described furtherherein can include sending a message to (148) and placing a call to(154) the selection at 138. Method 100 can include branch points (e.g.,150 and 158) for these menu choices. Thus, method 100 can navigate fromthe selection of a member of the buddy list at 138, through these branchpoints to receiving the message from the member at 140.

For audio messages, the message can be simply played to user 14. Fortext messages, the message text can be displayed to the user 14 when theequipment of user 14 is capable of such display, or the text can beconverted to audio using Text To Speech (TTS) technology. Afterreceiving an instant voice message, user 14 can choose, at 144, to replyto the message, as will be described further below. If the user 14 doesnot reply, the listing can again be presented to the user 14, such thatthe user can choose to obtain any additional messages that may bewaiting. It can be noted that the listing can be presented without theuser choosing text or vocal listings.

In addition, the user 14 can choose (146) to return to the main menu 118rather than return to the listing. It can be understood that the messagewaiting indication of the listing can be updated to reflect that themessage was delivered. If the listing is restricted to members having amessage waiting indication, the entry can be removed from the listing.It can be understood that method 100 can default to menu 118 at branchpoint 146 when there are no messages remaining.

If the user chooses to send an instant message, either by choosing at144 to reply via a message, or as selected at 148, the user 14 canrecord a voice message that can be sent to the originator of the instantvoice message in the case of a reply, or to a buddy list member selectedfrom the listing. Alternatively, user 14 can type a text message if theuser 14 equipment can support such a capability. The instant message(voice or text) can be persisted by the system 10 until delivery occurs,as previously described. System 10 can also provide for longer retentionor logging of messages, as provided in known instant messaging and/orcall answering systems.

When user 14 chooses to send a message as selected at 148, the user 14can be presented a buddy list and can select a member, as shown anddescribed for 134, 132 and 138. As noted previously, intermediatedecision or branch points can be transparent to the user 14. Inparticular, method 100 can branch at 150 to receiving (140) or sending(152) a message depending on whether menu item 136 or 148 was chosen.Once the message is sent, the user 14 can return to the listing torecord additional messages for selected members, or can return to 118,via 146, to select another menu item. As described previously withrespect to UA's 24 sending and receiving IM messages, the presence UA's24 can be aware of the sending and receiving of instant messages. Thus,user 14 presence status can typically be busy during these operations.For example, when user 14 chooses menu item 136 or 148, an AIN triggercan signify the change in status, as previously described.

The instant messages that the user 14 can send and/or receive caninclude an invitation to a telephone call. The invitation can be aprerecorded instant voice message that carries caller information, e.g.,instant voice message originator calling information. When user 14receives an invitation, user 14 can choose, at 144, to accept theinvitation and system 10 can create a telephone call between the senderand user 14, as described further below. If user 14 does not wish tocreate a call, user 14 can reply by sending a message (152), or rnaychoose not to reply to the invitation and return to the listing 132, ormenu 118, as chosen at 146.

When the user 14 chooses to make a telephone call while connected tosystem 10, as at 154, the user 14 can be presented a buddy list and canselect a member, as shown and described for 134, 132 and 138.Additionally, or alternatively, the presented list can include access toa phone directory and/or an option that user 14 can select at 138 toinput a phone number to be called (156). As known in the art, thedirectory can be accessible by voice command, such that the user canprovide the voice command associated with a directory listing and thelisting will be presented to the user. Where the listing is associatedwith a member of the buddy list, the presence status can be presented inaddition to information standard for known directory listings.

When menu item 154 was chosen, system 10 can branch at 158 to initiate acall to the other party (160). Otherwise, system 10 branches at 158 to150, as previously described with relation to menu items 136 and 148. Toinitiate a call, system 10 can bridge between the user 14 connection tosystem 10 and the system 10 connection to the called party to enable theuser 14 to connect to the other party, as indicated at 162. When thephone call is in response to an invitation to call, as described above,or when user 14 wishes to respond to an IM message with a phone call,method 100 can transfer, as indicated by branch 144, from receiving amessage at 140 to bridging the call between user 14 and the messageoriginator at 162.

The following example is provided using the SIMPLE protocol, though itcan be understood that other protocols can be used for the systems andmethods described herein. In addition, the example provided can use thecall control for a SIMPLE (SIP Proxy) presence server 26. User 14, whileconnected to system 10, can provide an indication to media server 28,via DTMF or speech, to initiate a call. Media server 28 can send an HTTPrequest to web server 30, which can translate the request content to anXML-based SIMPLE message and can pass the message to web presence UA 30a of web server 30. Presence UA 24 for user 14 can receive a SIMPLEmessage about the action via web presence UA 30 a.

Presence UA 24 can notify presence (SIMPLE) server 26 to transfer thecall to the called party. If transfer succeeds, the result can be areal-time telephone conversation between the user 14 and the calledparty. The presence status of user 14 can be updated to busy during thecall, as at 164. If the called party is a user of a system providingpresence information, the presence status of the called party can alsobe updated to busy to indicate a telephone call has started, e.g., anO_Connect AIN trigger 16 can be generated. Once the call is completed,the user 14 can return to the listing, at 132, to make another call, orcan return to 118, via 146, to select another menu item.

In addition to the operations described above, user 14 can receive atelephone call or, when the user 14 is logged in to system 10, canreceive calls in the form of messages, alerts and notifications fromsystem 10. Alerting service UA 40 can deliver a diverse set of alertsand notifications to a logged-in user 14. These alerts and notificationscan come from public sources, including, but not limited to, web portalsand/or voice portals. Additionally, or alternatively, the alerts andnotifications can come from private, or user 14 sources, including, butnot limited to, electronic calendars, electronic mail inboxes and/orvoicemail inboxes.

An incoming communication can be handled by system 10 in the manner ofreceiving messages (136). As is known in the art, system 10 can providecaller identification information to user 14, such that user 14 canchoose whether or not to accept the incoming call. The calleridentification information can be presented to user 14 in the manner ofpresenting the listing at 132. If a call arrives and is accepted by user14, then user presence can be updated to busy, in a manner similar tothat described above for initiating a phone call at 160, 162 and 164. Asan example, an O_Connect AIN trigger 16 can be generated and propagatedthrough system 10 to modify presence status on presence UA 24 of user14.

If the accepted call is an IM message, the user can receive the message,as at 140. After accepting and completing a call, the user can bereturned to the menu, as at 146. If user 14 is busy when the callarrives, a call waiting notification, as known in the art, can be givento user 14. If user 14 chooses not to answer the call, then the call maybe delivered to voice mail, or in the case of an incoming message, canbe queued, as previously described. Incoming messages can also be queuedwhen the user 14 is not logged in to system 10. Alerts and notificationscan be treated as incoming instant voice messages. From a user'sperspective, the alerts and notifications can be specialized, time orevent-driven, and/or possibly urgent messages that the user 14 hasindicated a desire to receive.

The systems and methods described herein may not be limited to aparticular hardware or software configuration; they may findapplicability in many communication environments. For example, thesystems and methods described herein in relation to PSTN 12 can providefull participation in the instant voice and text messaging, alerts andnotifications, and presence services in a wireless environment and canbe an adjunct to Short Message Service (SMS) capabilities provided bycellular phone systems. SMS can be used to send messages of up to 160characters (224 characters if using a 5-bit mode) to mobile phones,similar to the manner text messages are sent in paging systems. In suchan environment, a mobile switching center can provide the functionalityof the service switching point and other components described inrelation to PSTN 12 can have similar counterparts in a wirelessenvironment.

Thus, it can be understood by those of skill in the art that PSTN 12provides an exemplary embodiment for the methods and systems describedherein and that other communications networks, such as wirelessnetworks, and VoIP networks can be adapted to fully participate in theinstant voice and text messaging, alerts and notifications, and statusupdate services described herein and that other devices, such as mobilephones, PDA's and the like for use with such systems can be so adapted.

In addition, the techniques described herein can be implemented inhardware or software, or a combination thereof. The systems and methodscan be implemented in one or more computer programs executing on one ormore programmable computers, such as may be exemplified by the serversof FIG. 1, among others, that include a processor, a storage mediumreadable by the processor (including volatile and non-volatile memoryand/or storage elements), one or more input devices, and one or moreoutput devices.

The computer programs, or programs, may be preferably implemented usingone or more high level procedural or object-oriented programminglanguages to communicate with a computer system; however, the program(s)can be implemented in assembly or machine language, if desired. Thelanguage can be compiled or interpreted. The computer program(s) can bepreferably stored on a storage medium or device (e.g., CD-ROM, harddisk, or magnetic disk) readable by a general or special purposeprogrammable computer for configuring and operating the computer whenthe storage medium or device is read by the computer to perform theprocedures described herein. The system can also be considered to beimplemented as a computer-readable storage medium, configured with acomputer program, where the storage medium so configured causes acomputer to operate in a specific and predefined manner.

While the method and systems have been disclosed in connection with thepreferred embodiments shown and described in detail, variousmodifications and improvements thereon will become readily apparent tothose skilled in the art. As an example, those with ordinary skill inthe art will recognize that the arrangement and connectivity of thecomponents shown in the figures are merely for illustrative purposes,and can be varied accordingly and components may be combined orotherwise reconfigured without departing from the scope of the disclosedsystems and methods. Accordingly, many additional changes in the detailsand arrangement of parts, herein described and illustrated, can be madeby those skilled in the art. It will thus be understood that thefollowing claims are not to be limited to the embodiments disclosedherein, can include practices otherwise than specifically described, andare to be interpreted as broadly as allowed under the law.

1. A method comprising: receiving, by a communication device associatedwith a first user, a first notice indicating that a second user isunavailable through a Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN);subsequent to receiving the first notice, receiving, by thecommunication device, a second notice indicating that the second userhas become available through the PSTN, where the second notice is sentin response to detecting an action, performed by the second user,related to the PSTN; and displaying, by the communication device, anindication, to the first user, that the second user has becomeavailable.
 2. The method of claim 1, where the first notice and thesecond notice are received via the PSTN.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherethe first notice is sent in response to the second user picking up areceiver of a PSTN telephone associated with the second user.
 4. Themethod of claim 3, where the action includes the second user replacingthe receiver of the PSTN telephone associated with the second user. 5.The method of claim 1, further comprising: forwarding an indicationrelated to at least one of the first notice or the second notice to athird user.
 6. The method of claim 5, where forwarding the indicationincludes: delivering an instant voice message alert to the third user.7. The method of claim 5, where the indication is a first indication,and where the method further comprises: automatically establishing, inresponse to receiving the second notice, a telephone call via the PSTNbetween the first user and the second user; and forwarding a secondindication to the third user in response to automatically establishingthe telephone call, where the second indication indicates that the firstuser is not available through the PSTN.
 8. The method of claim 7,further comprising: forwarding a third indication to the third user inresponse to detecting that the telephone call has ended; andautomatically establishing, in response to the third indication and viathe PSTN, a communication between the first user and the third user. 9.The method of claim 5, where the indication is forwarded via the PSTN.10. The method of claim 1, where the first notice and the second noticeare received in response to the second user being added to a presenceand availability management buddy list associated with the communicationdevice.
 11. A communication device associated with a first user, thecommunication device comprising: an input unit; and a processor to:receive, through the input unit, an identifier associated with a seconduser, where the first user is different from the second user, based onthe received identifier, add the second user to a buddy list, inresponse to adding the second user to the buddy list, receive an updateregarding a change in a real-time status, of the second user, on aPublic Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), and update the buddy list toreflect the change.
 12. The communication device of claim 11, where theprocessor is further to receive the update via the PSTN.
 13. Thecommunication device of claim 12, where the processor, when receivingthe update, is further to receive an instant voice message alert relatedto the change in the real-time status of the second user.
 14. Thecommunication device of claim 13, where the processor, when receivingthe update, is further to: receive an instant voice message alertintended for the second user, and forward the instant voice messagerelated to the second user via the PSTN.
 15. The communication device ofclaim 11, where the update relates to an activity, of the second user,on the PSTN.
 16. The communication device of claim 15, where the updateindicates that the second user has become unavailable via the PSTN. 17.The communication device of claim 15, where the update indicates thatthe second user has become available via the PSTN.
 18. The communicationdevice of claim 17, where the processor is further to automaticallyinitiate a connection, via the PSTN, to a PSTN telephone associated withthe second user.